DAMASCUS - Syria was back in the international firing line Thursday, facing a new UN resolution over Lebanon and a US asset freeze against suspects in the murder of ex-Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri.

Analysts said the latest US action was meant to punish Damascus for its policies towards Lebanon -- where it still wields considerable clout despite its military pullout last year -- and for hosting some top members of Hamas, which now runs the Palestinian government.

US President George W. Bush on Tuesday ordered an asset freeze against any suspect found to be involved in Hariri's assassination in February 2005, in which several top Syrian and Lebanese officials have been implicated by a UN probe.

France also said it was preparing a new UN Security Council resolution to urge Syria to answer Lebanese calls for better ties, which have deteriorated markedly since Hariri's killing and elections which brought an anti-Syrian majority to power.

The developments came just as Lebanon marked the first anniversary of the April 26, 2005 pullout of Syrian troops from its soil, ending a near three-decade military presence.

"This measure shows that Syria is increasingly under pressure from the United States," Nadim Shehadeh, researcher at British think-tank Chatham House, said of the Bush sanctions.

It was also meant to "ease concerns of some Lebanese whose utmost fear is to see the United States drop Lebanon" from its priorities despite a visit by Prime Minister Fuad Siniora to the White House this month.

"Also, with no potential successes in Iraq or Palestine, maybe Bush thinks that Lebanon is the only potential place for some kind of success," said Shehadeh.

But he warned that the policy might serve only to further strain relations between Beirut and Damascus, which remains a strong regional player and backs movements such as the Lebanese fundamentalist Shiite movement Hezbollah and Hamas, both on a US terror blacklist.

Under the executive order Bush signed late Tuesday, the freeze would also apply to individuals questioned in the Hariri case and who had tried to impede the investigation -- an apparent reference to Syrian Vice President Faruq al-Shara, whom a UN report said had attempted to mislead the probe.

The United States already slapped sanctions on Syria in May 2004, accusing it of sponsoring terrorism and allowing insurgents to cross the borders into neighboring Iraq to fight US-led forces.

In March, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the Commercial Bank of Syria which it accused of facilitating international terrorist activity and money laundering.

Washington also decided in January to freeze the assets of Assef Shawkat, head of Syrian intelligence services and brother-in-law of President Bashar al-Assad on charges of backing terrorism, interfering in Lebanese affairs and links with the Iraq insurgency.

Syria retaliated by adopting the euro instead of the dollar for its international financial transactions.

In parallel, France said Wednesday it was preparing a UN draft resolution that would urge Syria to respond to Lebanon's call for the establishment of formal diplomatic ties and a demarcation of their common border.

Syria considers that these two issues are bilateral matters, and Western diplomats in Damascus told AFP that such a resolution had little chance of being adopted because of the reluctance of permanent Security Council members such as China and Russia.

A Western diplomat who did not wish to be identified noted that "it is also not a coincidence that the US sanctions came after Jordan accused Hamas of preparing attacks on the kingdom under the orders of a leader of the Palestinian movement currently in Syria."

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